Macbook Pro taking 5 full minutes to boot........

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Macbook Pro taking 5 full minutes to boot........

My friend has a 2.33 GHz 17 inch Macbook Pro. When you power it on, it takes the pinwheel a minimum of 71 spins before it goes to the blue screen. Once there, it takes a full 5 minutes to get to a workable desktop (that is with a 160 GB hard drive - with a 320 GB hard drive installed, the time doubles to over 10 minutes). The Apple Hardware Test finds no problems at all. Once it is booted, it runs great - no issues. It almost seems like it is doing a full test on the hard drive. Is this something that a firmware update will fix?? What could be causing it?? The PRAM has been reset. If anyone has any ideas, your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

P.S. Can you do an archive & install from the Snow Leopard upgrade disc??

Message was edited by: Wakko Warner

G5 2.0 DC/MBP 2.2 C2D, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 5.5 GB, 16x DL DVD Burner, Nvidia 6600 LE/3 GB, Superdrive

Posted on Nov 6, 2010 2:23 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 6, 2010 3:06 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
Is this something that a firmware update will fix??

Run Software Update (in Apple Menu) and see if there are any current updates.

What could be causing it??

Is there 15% or more free space on each HD?

How much RAM is installed?

P.S. Can you do an archive & install from the Snow Leopard upgrade disc??

Not an actual A&I, but if you just do an install, it only replaces the OS (leaves user folder, apps and settings alone), just like A&I used to do, but with SL it does not leave a Previous System Folder behind.

Message was edited by: tjk

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Answer 2

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 6, 2010 4:20 PM in response to tjk

The 160 GB hard drive only had about 30 GB used & the 320 I believe only had a fresh OS install on it. The unit came with 2 GB of RAM but has been upgraded to 4 GB. I had him check the firmware & it has the latest version on there. He is going to try a brand new 320 GB drive & see what happens. Could somebody have done something in the open firmware to make it do this?? It's very strange, since it runs fine once it finally boots.

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Answer 3

tjk

Level 9

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Nov 6, 2010 4:23 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
The unit came with 2 GB of RAM but has been upgraded to 4 GB.

Did it ever boot normally with the new RAM? I would try the stock RAM in it.

Could somebody have done something in the open firmware to make it do this??

I suppose. Why would you suspect this?

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Answer 4

CMCSK

Level 6

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Nov 6, 2010 4:36 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Check the login items in System Preferences/Accounts. Delete the ones you do not want.

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Answer 5

tjk

Level 9

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Nov 6, 2010 4:39 PM in response to CMCSK

CMCSK wrote:
Check the login items in System Preferences/Accounts. Delete the ones you do not want.

If the 320GB HD does the exact same thing, and it "only had a fresh OS install on it," it is not HD related, nor related to anything "extra" (such as login items) being added to the mix.

Message was edited by: tjk

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Answer 6

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 6, 2010 4:40 PM in response to tjk

The laptop was purchased used with a funky screen problem (it was all grainy). He put a screen in that was from a unit with a bad logic board & the screen is perfect now. With it being a used unit, we do not know the history of it. It exhibits the same boot problem even with the factory RAM.

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Answer 7

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Nov 6, 2010 4:48 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
The laptop was purchased used with a funky screen problem (it was all grainy). He put a screen in that was from a unit with a bad logic board & the screen is perfect now.

Did it boot normally with the "grainy" display?

Has it ever booted normally since the display was replaced?

I'm wondering if there could be a hardware incompatibility at work here. Was the replaced display from the same exact model MBP?

It exhibits the same boot problem even with the factory RAM.

That should rule out RAM.

I would install a fresh OS X on an external HD, with nothing else on that partition, and see how things work from there.

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Answer 8

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 6, 2010 5:05 PM in response to tjk

The laptop did not boot normally from the get go (even with the grainy screen). What he did was remove the actual LCD from the housing & switch it with the other one (the assembly could not be transferred, because the iSight connection on the board was different - the donor screen came from a 2.4, his is a 2.33). So, basically, it has never booted normally since he got it. He is going to remove the internal hard drive & see if it will let him install to an external without it.

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Answer 9

tjk

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Nov 6, 2010 5:16 PM in response to Wakko Warner

That MBP does have a firmware update listed for it. Why not check, just to make sure?

http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBookPro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_51

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Answer 10

tjk

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Nov 6, 2010 5:19 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
P.S. Can you do an archive & install from the Snow Leopard upgrade disc??

I assumed this meant he is running SL, but I don't see that actually stated in this thread. Is that correct?

Message was edited by: tjk

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Answer 11

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 6, 2010 5:56 PM in response to tjk

He checked the firmware & the one that is listed is already installed on the machine. As for the Snow Leopard question, that was for me. But he will be installing Snow Leopard on his machine.

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Answer 12

tjk

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Nov 6, 2010 5:59 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
He checked the firmware & the one that is listed is already installed on the machine. As for the Snow Leopard question, that was for me. But he will be installing Snow Leopard on his machine.

What is he running now? Note the OS requirements on the firmware update.

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Answer 13

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 6, 2010 6:16 PM in response to tjk

The first hard drive he used had OS 10.5.8 installed & the 320 that he tried was 10.6.4. He will be installing 10.6 on the external.

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Answer 14

Wakko Warner Author

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Nov 8, 2010 1:55 PM in response to Wakko Warner

He installed OS 10.6 on a brande new 320 GB external drive - when finished it took 5 minutes to boot. He installed the drive internally - it takes 5 minutes to boot. He setup Bootcamp, installed Windows XP, then installed Windows 7 32 bit. The problem now is that we cannot get Windows 7 64 bit to install at all. The disc brings up a screen asking us for CD-ROM options (1 or 2), but it won't accept any input (it will boot up very quickly to Windows, by the way - no 5 minute delay). I know the bootcamp thing isn't related, but I figured someone might know why we can't get the 64 bit version to boot (bootcamp has been upgraded to 3.1). Something has to be causing the slow boot times into OS 10.6 (the machine has been fully updated).

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Answer 15

tjk

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Nov 8, 2010 2:36 PM in response to Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner wrote:
He installed OS 10.6 on a brande new 320 GB external drive - when finished it took 5 minutes to boot. He installed the drive internally - it takes 5 minutes to boot. He setup Bootcamp, installed Windows XP, then installed Windows 7 32 bit. The problem now is that we cannot get Windows 7 64 bit to install at all. The disc brings up a screen asking us for CD-ROM options (1 or 2), but it won't accept any input (it will boot up very quickly to Windows, by the way - no 5 minute delay). I know the bootcamp thing isn't related, but I figured someone might know why we can't get the 64 bit version to boot (bootcamp has been upgraded to 3.1). Something has to be causing the slow boot times into OS 10.6 (the machine has been fully updated).

Do all the ports work? I have a vague recollection of a situation where OS X went looking for a FW connection each time it started up, but the port/s had died, so it spent quite awhile looking for it/them. Any chance that's the issue?

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